ISBN: 2290-7866 Cat. No.: BC9-9E-PDF Unless otherwise specified, you may not reproduce materials in this publication, in whole or in part, for the purposes of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's (CRTC) copyright administrator. To obtain permission to reproduce Government of Canada materials for commercial purposes, apply for Crown Copyright Clearance by contacting: The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1A ON2 Tel: 819-997-0313 Toll-free: 1-877-249-2782 (in Canada only) https://applications.crtc.gc.ca/contact/eng/library © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, 2020. All rights reserved. Aussi disponible en français 2 Communications Monitoring Report Table of Contents 1. Communications Industry Overview: Telecommunications and Broadcasting ............................................ 12 i. Revenues .................................................................................................................................................. 12 ii. Subscribers ............................................................................................................................................... 18 iii. Financial performance.............................................................................................................................. 20 iv. Industry characteristics ............................................................................................................................ 23 v. Datasets available on Open Data .............................................................................................................. 25 vi. Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 26 Grouping of companies by ownership .......................................................................................................... 26 Regional data ................................................................................................................................................ 26 Broadcasting services ................................................................................................................................... 26 Telecommunications services ....................................................................................................................... 26 Broadcasting data collection ......................................................................................................................... 26 Media Technology Monitor (MTM) ............................................................................................................. 27 Definitions .................................................................................................................................................... 27 2. Highlights of the Telecommunications Sector .............................................................................................. 30 i Market composition ................................................................................................................................. 30 ii Revenues .................................................................................................................................................. 33 Retail versus wholesale ................................................................................................................................ 36 Forborne services .......................................................................................................................................... 38 Canadian ownership ..................................................................................................................................... 38 Contribution .................................................................................................................................................. 39 iii Financial performance.............................................................................................................................. 40 Capital expenditures and capital intensity .................................................................................................... 41 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) .................................................. 43 Investment in spectrum ................................................................................................................................. 43 Churn ............................................................................................................................................................ 43 iv Sector summaries ..................................................................................................................................... 45 Retail mobile sector ...................................................................................................................................... 47 Retail fixed Internet sector ........................................................................................................................... 50 Retail wireline voice sector .......................................................................................................................... 52 Retail data and private line sector ................................................................................................................. 53 Wholesale ..................................................................................................................................................... 54 v Datasets available on Open Data .............................................................................................................. 57 vi Methodology ............................................................................................................................................ 59 Capital expenditures and capital intensity .................................................................................................... 59 Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization ................................................................... 59 3 Wholesale Internet lines and revenues by province/territory and region ...................................................... 59 Definitions .................................................................................................................................................... 59 3. Highlights of the Broadcasting Sector .......................................................................................................... 63 i. Revenues and financial performance ....................................................................................................... 65 ii. Industry characteristics............................................................................................................................. 68 Sector composition ....................................................................................................................................... 69 iii. Contributions to Canadian content ........................................................................................................... 71 iv. Internet-based audio and television services estimated revenues ............................................................. 74 v. Spotlight: Commercial radio .................................................................................................................... 76 Market composition ...................................................................................................................................... 78 Formats ......................................................................................................................................................... 79 vi. Spotlight: CBC/SRC ................................................................................................................................ 83 CBC/SRC Radio ........................................................................................................................................... 83 CBC/SRC Conventional television ............................................................................................................... 84 vii. Datasets available on Open Data ......................................................................................................... 87 viii. Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 89 CRTC data collection ................................................................................................................................... 89 Media Technology Monitor (MTM) ............................................................................................................. 89 Omdia (formerly, Ovum) .............................................................................................................................. 89 Numeris ........................................................................................................................................................ 91 Definitions ...................................................................................................................................................